Ironwood 1911 grip set....calling Murphy-

Finally tried making a set of 1911 grip panels.....couldn't get motivated to grind a heat treated blade so I grabbed a set of Desert Ironwood scales and started cutting, shaping and sanding...

Not too bad for my first attempt, lost track of keeping the tops some what even, too focused on fitting the left panel under the plunger tube so they are a little different shaped. Sanded to 600 grit and buffed out, I used my 5" Baer for test fitting and cut the panels a little wider than normal and flat bottomed them as well, personally I prefer the Baer style grip panels, so that is kinda what I made them to look like.

Murphy you have been after me to make a set so here you go, $60 shipped as is, if you want them, if not no biggie, they will go to the first "I'll take them" posted here.

Ironwood......

Not too bad, it is very hard wood, you have to have a sharp band saw blade to cut it and new sanding belts to shape it and they don't last long, used up 2 new belts and half the life of 2 more belts just doing this grip panel set.

The trade off with Desert Ironwood is yes it eats belts but I don't have to spend money having it stabilized like most woods need, DI is naturally very stable so no process needs to be preformed on it, Ironwood has a slight natural oil in it that helps. Also I don't need a bunch of oils for finishing either....all I do is sand, clean, buff with rouge and then a few light passes on clean buffing wheel and it is done.